Wonder Man (vol. 2) #6
Tough Measures
Wonder Man and the Beast have teamed up to stop Rampage from trashing downtown Los Angeles. In the middle of the fight, Beast is knocked out from a blow to the head leaving Wonder Man alone against Rampage’s army of armored homeless called the Recession Raiders. Already furious that his best friend got injured, Wonder Man is too distracted to stop the Raiders from nabbing the Beast and tossing him around for a bit before throwing him to the ground. Leaping after his friend, Simon manages to catch the Beast and take the brunt of the fall. Once on the ground, Simon is relieved that Hank still has a pulse but needs medical attention immediately, forcing Wonder Man to flee from the scene. Rampage orders the Recession Raiders to let him go since Wonder Man is beneath their concerns. Now that his team has had some field practice with their Rampage suits, he has an idea on how next to strike back against corporations.[1]
Meanwhile, Wonder Man gets the Beast to a hospital where he is informed that Hank will live but they aren’t sure when he’ll come out of his coma. That’s when Ginger Beach and Spider come barging into the intensive care unit to find out how the battle went. Simon chastises them for not understanding their battle was, pointing to Hank’s injuries, and tells them how relieved he is that the Beast will pull through. That’s when Alex Flores arrives, she has shown up out of concern for Simon’s safety and is relieved that he wasn’t hurt. It’s then that Simon decides to go back out and find the Recession Raiders and stop them before anyone else gets harmed. Once he is gone, both Alex and Ginger trade barbs as they are both interested in Simon. When Alex goes off to see what she can do to help Simon, Ginger decides to stay behind. Spider can’t understand why her sister isn’t chasing after Williams as well. She explains to him that when it comes to competing over a man she’s a pro and while Alex might get him on the rebount, she’ll swoop in at the right moment and steal him away.
Alex manages to find Wonder Man in another hallway after he was told he couldn’t open a window to leap out of. She stops him to express her sympathy toward his situation.[2] She reveals that she has been researching his past and learned about how difficult his life has been since gaining super powers.[3] Simon is touched by her care and concern and thanks her for treating him like a normal person. Soon, Wonder Man is off with Alex promising to stay back and watch him on the news and cheer him on from the safety of her living room.
Rampage and the Recession Raiders have spent the entire time holing up in the Pactech building. There, Clarke explains his plan for the group. He has come up with a lofty idea that their attack on Los Angeles will make them attractive client for enemy nations that could also provide them refuge, these are the same countries that Stuart believes were responsible for the recession that ruined his business. Hiring themselves out would help the Recession Raiders train to become a skilled super-army so they can return to the States and lead America toward its economic destiny. August — who has been Stuart’s friend since he started living in the streets — expresses his concerns over this plan, saying he doesn’t want to mess with countries that have a poorer economy than America. Clarke assures him that this is the right way to go about it because his ultimate goal is to strip away the current economic system and replace it with a new global technocracy, a world ruled by science and those innovative enough to wield it.
When the military sends attack helicopters to deal with the Recession Raiders, Rampage and his allies make short work of them. That’s when Wonder Man arrives on the scene and without the Beast’s safety to preoccupy his mind he lashes into the Recession Raiders. He begins taking them out by trashing their jet packs. Eventually August and another Recession Raider named Ronnie begin to see the writing on the wall and decide to abandon Rampage before they get pinched as well.[4] Soon, Rampage finds himself alone against Wonder Man and tries to flee. Using a flagpole like a spear, Wonder Man strikes Rampage in the back causing him to crash land in the tower atop Los Angeles City Hall. When Simon catches up to him, Rampage tries to appeal to Williams, reminding him of his own financial troubles back when he owned Williams Manufacturing.[5] This falls on deaf ears and in a one-on-one fight, Rampage fairs poorly against Wonder Man. Simon quickly rips off the Rampage armor’s power pack and tosses Clarke into the fountain below for the authorities to collect. Wonder Man then races back to the hospital to check on Hank and is relieved to discover that his old friend has finally come out of his coma and is entertaining the Beach siblings.
Elsewhere, Lotus Newmark has become interested in Rampage after his attack and has her assistant get all the information he can about Stuart Clarke. She is very interested in his backstory and orders him to arrange Clarke’s bail, hire him and lawyer, and offer him a job. However, she reminds him to keep her name out it.
Recurring Characters
Wonder Man, Beast, Recession Raiders (Rampage), Lotus Newmark, Ginger Beach, Spider Beach, Alex Flores
Continuity Notes
Stuart Clarke was one an inventor who lost his entire business during an economic recession. He has used his Rampage armor to fight back against capitalist society since then. See Champions #5-8 for the details.
Here, Simon mentions how he and the Beast were long serving members of the Avengers and formed a close friendship. The Beast joined up with Earth’s Mightiest Heroes circa Avengers #137 with Simon joining up in issue #152. Hank and Simon became fast friends and hung out all the time when off duty. The pair have drifted apart over the years after they both left the east coast team in Avengers #211.
Alex mentions how she learned that Simon’s brother Eric is the killer super-villain known as the Grim Reaper. Eric first became the Reaper in Avengers #52. However, he only became a homicidal killer following his death in Vision and the Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #2 and his resurrection as a life-force stealing zombie in Avengers West Coast #65.
August and Ronnie will ride again as the Recession Raiders in Wonder Man Annual #2.
Before becoming Wonder Man, Simon Williams ran his family business. However, he soon got caught in an embezzlement scandal which served as the impetus for Baron Zemo convincing him into undergoing the process that turned Simon into Wonder Man. See Avengers #9.
Topical References
Ginger Beach compares her dating game to the basketball skills of Michael Jordan. At the time of this story, Jordan was at the height of his career and well on his way to becoming a legend in the sport. That said, this reference was only made because he was insanely popular at the time and as such should be considered topical as Jordan retired from the NBA for good in 2003. There are also contemporary basketball players that you could slot in as an alternative reference.
The attack helicopters in this story are depicted as an early model Boeing AH-64 Apache helicopter that was commonly used by the military around the time this story was published. These early models have long since been retired as of 2013. Their appearance here should be considered topical as Boeing is eventually going to phase out the Apache line in 2026.
